Since ancient times, chinese medical practitioners have recognized the interconnection of mind, body and spirit and the direct and significant effect of this interconnection on physical healing. Western medicine, while challenged by the ancient Eastern concept of "invisible" energy flowing throughout the body, has done little to recognize the evidence of efficacy of these ancient concepts--although Hippocrates was the father of Western medicine, treated women with menstrual problems through ear piercing and the wearing of earings--or investigate the underlying concepts or techniques through, for example, the development of effective therapeutic techniques or devices that employ energy manipulation or redirection.
For example, Dr. Kim Bong Han of the University of Pyongang in North Korea discovered that the energy flows in the body are contained within thin membranes filled with colorless fluid. German doctors have found that when electricity is introduced at one point in the flow, it arrives at the target organ with which the point is associated. These flows were also noted by Sir Thomas Lewis as early as 1937, but he did not understand the significance or utility of his discovery. Stephen T. Chang, The Great Tao (San Francisco:Tao Publishing, 1992), pp. 238, 239.
More recently, Kirlian photography has captured the healing energy emitted from the hands of healers and practitioners of Oriental medicine who work with this energy, or lack thereof. Certain people who possess unique sensitivity to this energy have reported that they actually "feel" the flows of energy in the body, and can even detect where and when blockages occur.
Students of Taoism were originally students of meditation, and were taught, through meditation, to activate energy points on their body through thought. Such "Taoist Masters" mastered this process, called activation. The next generation of students suffered problems with this approach. In order for this next generation to become effective practioners of the healing arts, accupressure was developed as a means to apply pressure to various points through physical touching, in order to thereby activate and control the body's energy flows. Thereafter, the next generation of practioners suffered problems in feeling the energy flows through their hands. Consequently, accupuncture was developed as a method of utilizing needles to physically apply stimulation to the known regions of the body where such stimulation was recognized as causing specific results. In this manner, students who suffered from an inability to meditate or to feel such energy points through their hands, could nonetheless perform recognized tasks through the application of acupressure and acupuncture techniques, respectively.
Acupuncturists have invaded the western front and are recognized by some of the medical community as satisfying a necessary element in overall medical treatment. In recent years, various aspects of Oriental medicine have begun to take a rightful place alongside allopathic (i.e., traditional Western) medical techniques and therapies. For example, when the situation warrants, it has been reported that surgeons in New York, Boston, Dallas and San Francisco have selectively introduced acupuncture in place of traditional (and often dangerous) anesthesia. Indeed, acupuncture-enhanced treatment for asthma has recently received governmental approval in the United States, and Dr. Oz of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, a world renowned heart surgeon, employs two female hands-on healers to stimulate acupressure points during surgery.
The historical growth of meditation, acupressure and acupuncture, while teaching the application of stimulation to certain points, has actually taught away from the application of stimulation to a group of various points deemed "forbidden," and in fact were known collectively as the Forbidden Pregnancy Points. Perhaps it was reluctance to interfere with normal female functioning or the birth cycle that lead to restrictions on articulation of various female-specific point sequences. This is because articulation of the so-called "forbidden" points on a pregnant women was known to lead to termination of pregnancy--often miscarriage in one to three days. Likely because of this result, and all of the ramifications associated therewith, that these points were banned from use. Thus, such points have, for many hundreds of years, remained essentially forbidden, and practitioners in the arts of acupressure and acupuncture have neither systematically employed them, nor studied the impact that they may have on non-pregnant women.
The inventor hereof, a woman and student of Taoism and the healing arts, could not help but conceive that for every negative there must be a positive--an essential yin/yang balance must even be found in the "forbidden" points. Thus, through study and employment of the "forbidden" points on herself and her clients, she has determined methods and systems directed to employing these points in a manner sought to: (a) regulate the menstrual cycle each month to rid one of the primary imbalance at the root of menstrual problems, which are the cause of the symptoms of "PMS" (including cramping, backache, physical pain, anxiety, irritability, mood swings, tension, bloating, fluid retention, weight gain, breast tenderness, craving for sweets, dizziness, fatigue, headache, increased appetite, palpitations, confusion, crying, depression, forgetfulness, insomnia, and withdrawal); (b) regulate or "bring on" a regular period each month that can also servew as a gentle and non-invasive form of birth control; and (c) stave off the onset of menopause through flushing-out and replenishing qualities, and even revere the menopausal process.
Also disclosed is a portable device aimed at both stimulating the needed points in specialized sequence in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, as well as to keep track of the stimulation on a routine or daily basis.
Despite the western medical communities general failure to acknowledge eastern principles, others have invented devices for treatment of disease or articulation of acupressure/acupuncture points. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,422 to Kelly shows a process and device for treatment of disease employing electromagnetic oscillations (i.e., sound waves.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,447 to Teshima shows a device for detecting particular impedance of skin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,150 to Ishikawa shows an acupuncture device that electrically pulses acupuncture points. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,718 to Nobuta indicates a "training wear" which sets up cure target points. U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,146 to Bertolucci shows a nausea control device imparting electrical pulses to percardium six (P6) acupuncture point. U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,784 to Rohlicek, et al., shows an apparatus for stimulating acupuncture points by light radiation. Other electroacupuncture patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,870 to Wing; U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,846 to McCall; U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,617 to Auguste; D273,706 to McCall; U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,584 to McCall; U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,838 to McCall; U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,678 to Skovajsa; U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,669 to Man, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,079 to Wing, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,532 to Morey; U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,870 to Lock; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,020 to Lock.
However, none of these patents, or the medical community, show the physio/energetic therapeutic method, process and interactive monitoring device of the subject invention, which seeks to employ articulation of certain "forbidden" points to, among other things, provide proper control over a woman's menstrual cycle.